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Ryan asks:
I'm interested to hear what you have found out about a possible OMB blog.Alternatively, if you have heard anything or have any thoughts on blogging more broadly throughout government.
To answer the question, I e-mailed Thomas Gavin, the spokesman for the OMB. He wrote back:
Peter Orszag had his own blog while he was the Director of the Congressional Budget Office. He’d like to find ways to keep that going at OMB.So there you (sort of) have it. As for thoughts of blogging in government; I'm for it. Strongly. Consider the case of, well, Thomas Gavin. His job is to indirectly inform the public on the Office of Management and Budget's activities by fielding questions from members of the media, who act, in theory, as representatives of the broader citizenry. That's all very nice and we should continue doing it, but it's clearly a second-best outcome to the public following OMB's research and conclusions directly. Insofar as OMB has decided the public has a right to information -- and Gavin's employment suggests they have -- a regular blog tracking and summarizing and categorizing OMB's releases is a logical way for them to get that information. Much more logical than, say, hoping Ezra Klein asks Thomas Gavin the correct questions or deigns to republish or summarize the salient portion of a report.Incidentally, the more public demand there is for an Orszag/OMB blog, the more likely one is. So keep up the campaign!
